Let’s start with a fast approaching deadline.
From the AAEC:
CARTOON CONTEST UPDATE: The deadline for the John Locher Award has been extended to July 15th, 2020. Due to cancellations of this year’s convention season, the winner will be invited to attend the next available conference. Click here for complete details: locheraward.org
Also looking forward to this soon-to-be-available event:
RED, WHITE, BLACK AND BLUE:
Cartoonist Keith Knight addresses America’s Racial Illiteracy
June 11, 6pm Eastern Time on ZOOM (registration required)
Register here: https://osu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hWr8P6uiSReL7k60TNfnTQ
This virtual event is FREE and open to the public.
Another Apology in Australia.
This seems to be a weekly occurrence down there as a political cartoonist is again apologizing for an insensitive cartoon.
An Australian newspaper has been accused of antisemitism after publishing an offensive caricature of the country’s Jewish Treasurer.
The cartoon in the Australian Financial Review portrayed a group of government officials as Captain Cook and his team of explorers. Among them is a caricature of Josh Frydenberg, the Treasurer of Australia, who is pictured as a hook-nosed Jewish stereotype toting a gold staff in the shape of a dollar sign.
J-Wire and The Algemeiner carry the story.
From cartoonist David Rowe:
Rowe replied, “It is Josh but he’s wearing a sailor’s cap as per the E. Phillips Fox painting of Cook’s landing. And yes, he’s carrying a dollar harpoon because he’s the treasurer. As for the nose it’s just a quick sketch.”
“Apologies if you thought I was suggesting something else,” he added.
Yesterday David Rowe and the Australia Financial Review “amended” the cartoon.
Rowe’s amended cartoon, republished on afr.com on Monday, removes the cloth cap on the Frydenberg character’s head and changes his nose, but retains the dollar symbol.
J-Wire and The Australian Jewish News carries the story of change.
Earlier that same week in Australia cartooning.
Newspaper Cancels Daily Opinion Page
The retirement of longtime editor Dave Dudajek had us examining how to maintain the quality, accuracy and variety of content for the opinions page while preserving reader voices and interactions. This is a task that carries a large workload and one we no longer can maintain on a daily basis.
As of Monday, the opinions page will cease its daily run but still will maintain a presence in the Sunday O-D.
The Utica Observer Dispatch (a Gannett/Gatehouse/Gannett paper) can no longer muster a daily opinion.
For the Sunday publication, the opinions page presence will be familiar to readers. As with the current offerings, a balance of syndicated columnists, local submissions and editorial cartoons will be chosen from week to week, based on available space.
Read the O-D’s editorial column on the action.
Living on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine.
Forbes carries a story about elevated odds of newspaper default.
The publisher expects cost-saving measures including layoffs and furloughs, significant pay cuts for senior management will yield savings of between $100 million and $125 million. It also reduced capital expenditures by 20 percent for the remainder of 2020 and suspended its quarterly dividend.
Gannett CEO Michael Reed has said he is “highly confident” the company will meet its obligations since it has $200 million in cash and expects to earn $50 million in real estate sales in the second quarter.
Whatever became of Sweet Jane?
Poynter keeps a running tab of the hits that keep on coming.
Political Cartoonist Profiled
While practicing social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis, John Martinek, a local painter, printmaker and drawer (as well as a political cartoonist for Little Village magazine), is turning his artistic gaze from the stresses of the present to his own past experiences.
Little Village (Iowa City/Cedar Rapids) profiles John Martinek.
“I spent so much time researching our culture and politics over the last several years for my cartoons. My general conclusion was that the United States would be ill prepared for any type of national emergency and that our politics would make the situation much worse. Obviously it’s happening now and it’s depressing to watch how badly we are responding and how hard it is for us to come together, even to fight a pandemic,” he explained. “I need something more zen to focus on.”
Political Cartoonist Interviewed
Comics Beat interviews Kieron Dwyer on his evolution from comic book artist to political cartoonist.
…and then I dropped out of comics altogether as my career in advertising storyboards grew. So, for years I had no regular avenue for personal expression, and frankly wasn’t all that eager to find one. However, when Donald Trump announced his candidacy, I guess that avenue found me. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just felt compelled to respond to what was happening with cartoons, and they just kind of poured out of me.
hat tip to R. C. Harvey for the word editoon